I love this that dbot introduced me to, a formulaic approach to the effects of a few mones, I'm hungry for more!

I'll probably read thru most of the research stuff here, but if anyone has any good info off the tops of their heads or specific threads that could help me organize this mathematically/chemically in my head please chime in :

http://www.alpha-dream.com/pheromone_technology_science.php

Lol I like you already

Pretty sure the system you describe hasn't been invented yet! So it's up to us.

Even the alpha, beta, delta, gamma approach you linked to is (I think) unique to Alpha Dream. Maybe Chris from AD can shed some light on the system.

Hey, this is a good thread!
I have the Chris's system saved up for reference. It would be nice if we could keep quantifying the effects.

I'm thinking something that conveys information in as many dimensions as possible visually. I am a Bio-CompSci geek after all, and business intelligence, information management, and data visualizations are a few of my specialties that I dearly love to work with and talk about.

Alchemy is a great word association for this pheromone fun - ""any seemingly magical process of transmuting ordinary materials into something of true merit". Sound like putting synthetic invisible (mostly) odorless chemicals on your skin and getting a completely different reaction out of people than you ordinarily would have? Makes me wonder if the alchemists and wizards had some pheromone potions in their cabal that others misunderstood for "love potions" or "mind control"...

Interesting sites I'm browsing right now :
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/alchemy-symbols.html
http://prs.org/gallery-alch.htm
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/images_s.html
http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/docs/dox/alchem.html

funky

So I'm thinking color to indicate a "primary" direction for evoking something in others. Colors blend nicely so the color wheel can be useful for this maybe?
Size could convey the strongness of the something evoked
Some markings like the leg on the lower case y or dots, more legs/dots for more strength, somewhere around an edge of a symbol

The alchemists seemed to use symbols but did not incorporate color that I know of (limited inks?) and size didn't seem to be a factor - seems that the symbols themselves made up an "alphabet" that was spiritually derived and loaded with contextual meaning.

A stacked radar plot can also be used to convey relative strengths in many dimensions with the position of eac "arm" representing a measured value being constant between plots, one can visually determine serveral characteristics quickly once becoming familiar with the meaning of each "arm" :







I'm partial to the ones that use well-chosen semi-transparent colors that blend nicely - the eye is drawn to the overlapping areas as they are shaded and colored more, conveying the reinforcement of several measured factors contributing to the same quality, and the shape produced is distinctive and can show lots of rich info quickly once the viewer is familiar with the layout.

Just some thoughts, time to sleep.

Thanks!

Very good idea 2Soon2Care !!!

That could work also as a marking diagram for a database of products, where the values are determined by the average of user ratings.

Interesting ideas, Rob. I don't know that I'd personally be able to make much sense out of those types of graphs, but I like thinking about pheromones in alchemical terms. There is some good info on alchemical symbols and practices in Israel Regardie's compendium of teachings and rituals from the Golden Dawn.

I've wondered lately whether, when we develop a large enough palate of molecules, if we might not be able to use the kaballistic tree of life as a framework for organizing pheromone effects.

Wow. This is an interesting idea.

Been thinking about this, and it seems like an easy way to start is by classifying molecules based on elemental properties. This turns out to be really easy for the well-known molecules. I'll be presumptuous and classify some newer ones too:

Earth
- Androsterone
- DHEA
- PEA

Air
- Alpha Androstenol
- Pregnenolone
- Androstadienol
- Alpha TH-DOC

Fire
- Androstenone
- Beta TH-DOC
- DMAA
- DHEAS

Water
- Androstadienone
- Beta Androstenol
- Androstenetrione
- Estratetraenol


I'm sure we can quibble over some of those, but it's a start. The next step would be assigning planetary affiliations... anybody want to take a stab?

You know Ail would be awesome with this kind of thing...

Neat!

What qualities would something need to have/exert as influence in order to be classified thusly?

I think mostly in yin/yang terms, but I'd love to see some studies about what parts of the brain are activated by PET scans or fMRI scans when exposed to single molecule pheromones - I think information like that could also help to form associations on a type of taxonomy (naming of things) that would map characteristics as well as the part of the brain that is affected. Some of the old phrenology maps of the head and old dissections of the brain I'm sure were mapped to bizarre attributions. I love all that old funky weird stuff, even it if was totally off base in so many ways. The painstaking pen-and-ink drawings informing such total crap is hysterical!

I like the Descartes theory of the pineal gland as well - he believed that the nerves were hollow tubes that a person's "animal spirit" coursed through flowing form the soul and animating the body, and that the pineal gland "tipped" these vapors causing actions in the body. Kind of a very rudimentary idea of hormones in a way I suppose?

But given that the activities of so many of the molecules are still very early in the study of their science, much of the science at this point is purely illustrative. Therefore I think it is completely valid to apply some artistic license in how to illustrate the effects of the pheromones!

I'd definitely like to incorporate color into such a taxonomy, but given that so much great work has been done on color already, I'd like to question the experts in magick here to see if the Luscher color scheme maps to any arcane descriptions of color? If so there may be some excellent matches for attributes on some elemental and astrological alchemical categories?

Max Luscher personality color tests

http://www.szondiforum.org/Borg%20Book%20Complete.pdf

http://www.axlife.com/luscher/

http://www.luscher-color.com/

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/color-therapy.html

http://www.testcolor.com/languagecolor.html

dbot what links would you recommend for some good visuals on the tree of life and how it is represented?

Thanks!